


Audeamus

by TwilightKnight17



Series: How to Kill a God [6]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Gen, Goro's got a soft spot for the kids, Heist, Mayhem, P5R Spoilers, Palace Deadline Ending, Unsafe driving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:08:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28413663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightKnight17/pseuds/TwilightKnight17
Summary: Goro is used to elaborate schemes and long games, but sometimes the best plans are the simple ones.Get in, accomplish your goal, and get out.As fast as possible.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira
Series: How to Kill a God [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967740
Comments: 27
Kudos: 93





	1. Audeamus

Having Loki in Tokyo made mayhem significantly easier, but the fact that Goro had no idea what Maruki would do to Akira if he caused anything on a massive scale prevented him from reaching his full chaotic potential. He was almost _disappointed_ with himself for how reluctant he was to take advantage of his newly-recovered power.

But Akira’s safety was more important.

Which brought Goro to his and Lavenza’s current mission: returning to the actual Mementos to see if there were any hints in the control room about where Maruki might have put Akira. Mementos still existed in its subway form, accessible via the nav, though it flickered eerily half-visible over the real subway at times. Maruki probably still needed a purely cognitive space to work his actualization through. Goro didn’t actually know, and really didn’t care, as long as it served his purposes.

Using the metanav’s waypoints to jump to the closest rest stop, Goro slashed his way through the subway, the butterfly on his shoulder acting as an impromptu navigator for his fights. But when they reached the control room, there was a white-clad figure already there, looking around curiously. He turned to face them when Goro entered, and looked delighted to see them.

“Hey, Mr. Crow! I haven’t seen you by yourself in a while.” Jose beamed up at him.

“By myself?” Goro asked, already caught off-guard by the fact that the strange little boy was here in the first place. “What do you mean?”

Jose shrugged. “I saw you a lot with Mr. Joker and the others,” he explained. “But before that, I used to see you a lot by yourself. I didn’t try to talk to you, though. You always looked like you were busy.”

Goro had no idea what to say to that. He didn’t recall seeing Jose at any point during his… solo adventures in Mementos. But there was a lot that he hadn’t known back then.

He was spared from responding by Lavenza fluttering down from his shoulder to turn back to her normal form. It was easier when they were fully in the metaverse, and she curtseyed. “You must be Jose. The Trickster mentioned you. I am Lavenza.”

“Mr. Joker mentioned you, too,” Jose said, bobbing his head enthusiastically. “But why are you here without him? I haven’t seen him in months…”

Goro frowned, trying to figure out how to explain the situation to this bizarre toddler. “A very bad man has taken him prisoner,” he began, trying not to roll his eyes at how childish that sounded. “The one responsible for the flowers that taste bad. He put Joker to sleep first, and then hid him away inside his Palace. Lavenza and I don’t know how to wake him up yet, but we’re trying to get him back so he’s at least safe.”

Jose looked from Lavenza to Goro, alarmed. “Mr. Joker’s being held prisoner?!” he cried. “And he won’t wake up? Have you tried going into his Den and seeing if he’s there, or did that not work?”

“...his… what now?” Goro asked.

“His Den!” Jose said. “It’s like a Palace, but it’s not distorted. It’s just a space. If it’s not a real sleep, he might be there, and you could tell him to wake up.”

Lavenza and Goro exchanged a glance, and Goro kneeled down to look at him. “Hypothetically, Jose, how would we go about doing that?”

“Well, you might have trouble, because Dens don’t have keywords,” Jose said. “But I could get there. I did it once before, but that was by accident. To get there again, it’d work best if I was near Mr. Joker.”

Goro looked at the floor, thinking hard. In the metaverse, it was easy to sense how powerful shadows were. He’d trained himself for years to learn how to estimate his chances in a fight. And he knew one thing for absolute certain.

Lavenza and Jose, even though they weren’t shadows, were both _incredibly_ powerful.

If he took Lavenza into Maruki’s Palace with him, she would certainly be able to hold her own. But getting Akira out when he was dead weight would be difficult, and dangerous. But…

“Jose,” he began, and the little boy perked to attention. “Can you get into the Palace, or just Mementos?”

“You’d have to show me the way,” Jose said. “But I think because the real world and Mementos are merged right now, I could go that way.”

“And you could bring your car?” Goro prodded.

“Yes,” Jose agreed, as Lavenza asked, “Knight, what are you thinking?”

Goro grinned. “How do the two of you feel about beating up some shadows and getting Joker back?”

He outlined a frankly ridiculous plan, stopping only to confirm that what he was thinking was within the scope of all of their abilities. Maruki wasn’t going to know what hit him, partially because they were going to be so swift and fierce, and partly because this was going to be the single most insane mess he’d ever participated in. Once they had all agreed on the details and decided to meet up the following day, Jose looked over at Lavenza curiously. “I didn’t think you were supposed to help this much.”

Lavenza smiled politely, but there was steel in her voice when she said calmly, “This is a special circumstance. My master will understand.”

That was a hell of a note to end on, in Goro’s opinion, and he and Lavenza bid Jose good afternoon and returned to the real world. He figured it was best to take it easy for the rest of the day, so he kept the mayhem to a minimum. He nudged a man hard enough to make him spill his expensive coffee all over the street and his nice shoes. Caused a woman to drop her shopping down the stairs of the subway. Purchased himself and Lavenza milkshakes and did not leave a tip or say thank you..

That last one was kind of worth it just for how happy Lavenza looked when they got home and she got to drink it. He was going soft.

Somehow he managed to sleep well despite the impending plan, and the next afternoon, they headed out, ready to put things into action.

 _Ready, Knight?_ Lavenza asked, as they arrived at the Scramble.

“Ready,” Goro said quietly.

 _Ready,_ Loki agreed, and Goro lifted a hand.

“Call of Chaos!”

All around them, the crowds filling the crosswalks faltered. In less than a minute, people were getting agitated, pushing and shoving, and Goro took off at a run into the station. He cast the spell again on the people milling around inside, and before the chaos became too much to navigate, he sent himself and Lavenza into Mementos and left anarchy in his wake.

Jose was waiting at the entrance with his car. He’d unloaded all of his trunks and boxes from the back, leaving an open, flat area, and Goro swept Lavenza into the passenger seat and climbed onto the back, holding onto the bar with one hand and readying the nav with the other. “As soon as we shift over, floor it!”

Mementos, being the public’s collective manifestation of Tokyo’s subways, could be accessed from _any_ of the subway stations, not just Shibuya or Yongen-Jaya. So when Goro activated the nav and Jose hit the gas, they reappeared at the Odaiba station, launching into streets that were clear enough for a straight shot to the stadium.

Goro couldn’t help but grin at the sheer thrill of it all, regardless of how important the mission was. His scarf flapped behind him as the wind rushed by. Lavenza was shouting with glee, having never ridden in a car before. And Jose, though focused on driving, was clearly fascinated by the city around them.

“Remember,” Goro told him, shouting over the wind, “don’t stop for anyone or anything. I don’t care if that fucker comes down personally. _Run him over_.”

“Got it, Mr. Crow!” Jose called back, and as they approached the entrance, Goro hit the nav again, flinging them into the Palace.

There were two guards at the bottom of the path leading to the elevator now, but as promised, Jose didn’t stop, and Goro drew his sword with his free hand. He slashed through the shadows as they passed, watching with satisfaction as they didn’t even change forms before dispersing.

When the elevator reached the top, they were off again, tearing through the halls at breakneck speed. By the time they reached the grand staircase leading to the auditorium, the shadows were assembling in even greater numbers, and Goro caught a whisper of them mentioning that they ‘had to stop the intruders while their lord was away’. Maruki must be in Shibuya, dealing with the outbreak of madness.

Perfect.

Goro hopped off the car at the bottom of the stairs, and as Lavenza turned back to look at him, he called, “Keep going! I’m going to keep these assholes off our tails.”

“R-Right!” The car continued on its way up the stairs, and Goro turned to face the shadows pursuing them.

“Let’s go.”

It felt good to _really_ cut loose for the first time in _months_. Robin and Loki moved with barely any commands from him, taking out wide swaths of shadows, and Goro himself charged in with sword and gun and claws, tearing through them with all the pent-up rage he possessed.

And when there was nothing left but dissipating bodies and the lingering adrenaline rush of battle, Goro turned to face the two massive cameras overseeing the staircase and flipped them both off, just before Loki rammed his sword through one, and Robin Hood put an arrow through the other.

“Time to catch up to the kids,” Goro said, straightening his gauntlets as he started up the stairs.

There was an explosion somewhere ahead of them, and Robin quipped, _They seem to be doing just fine._

That made Goro smile. “Why didn’t anyone tell me this babysitting thing was so easy?”

He’d meant it as a joke, but when he got into the auditorium and saw that they were being confronted by five Fafners, it seemed like a joke in poor taste. But then it immediately looped back around to being completely accurate, as Jose called down a rainbow starfall, knocking the enemies back and throwing up a cloud of smoke. From out of the smoke came the car, ridiculously fast, with Lavenza standing on the back, the bar in one hand and a roaring chainsaw in the other.

...hm. He’d always assumed she’d have a more… elegant weapon. But somehow, it suited her, as did her and Jose’s matching glee when the Fafners turned to dust.

“Good job, both of you,” Goro said, once he made his way over to them. Turning to Lavenza, he asked, “Can you sense Akira?”

Lavenza closed her eyes, concentrating. “He’s somewhere higher than here,” she said.

Goro pulled out the nav, checking the safe rooms. “I wasn’t sure if he would be here, or somewhere deeper in. If he’s with the Treasure, that’s very far in indeed.” His brow furrowed as the nav brought up an error message. “Fucking bastard, he’s done something so we can’t use the waypoints. We’re going to have to fight our way up.”

Jose smiled. “That’s okay, Mr. Crow. I feel like I’m learning a lot about ‘venting’.”

“And I will do whatever I can to ensure that we get the Trickster back safely,” Lavenza said, brandishing her chainsaw.

Goro was really starting to see why Akira liked these two so much.

They tore through Maruki’s Palace like a three-person army, Goro and Lavenza perched on the back of the car, lashing out at anything that came near them while Loki swatted cameras from the ceiling like he was practicing for the batting cages. Jose had a little trouble on the spiral stairs, but for the most part, they were fine up until the Twilight Corridor, when they had to slow down so Goro could re-solve the light spectrum puzzles. But fortunately, he remembered most of it, and soon they were off up the final staircase to the last elevator.

“Wait!” Lavenza cried as Goro got ready to call the elevator. “He’s not up there!”

“He’s not?” Goro turned around, confused. “Where else could he be? We’ve been everywhere else.”

“I can sense him nearby… But it’s…” She hopped off the back of the car, walking over to examine the end of the hall. Pressing her hands against the wall, she said hesitantly, “It’s like he’s… past here.”

“Is there anything past there, though?” Jose asked. “There’s nothing on the map that Mr. Crow brought.”

Goro walked over, rapping a gauntleted hand against the wall. “He _would_ do something like make a whole new room that isn’t on the map, just to mess with us.” He lifted a hand to his chin, thinking. “The walls in this place are very thick. I don’t think we’re ramming the car through it without destroying it in the process. But maybe…”

He waved them back down the hall, and with a safe distance between them and the wall, said, “Jose, do you think your stars and two megidolaons will get us through there?”

“If we all hit at the same time, maybe…” Jose said. “Let’s try!”

Goro summoned Robin, who readied an arrow empowered with the spell. To his great surprise, Lavenza pulled out a thin blue book emblazoned with a V, and flipped through it until she summoned an identical Robin Hood, slightly translucent.

“W-What?”

Lavenza smiled. “I am your attendant as well, Knight. I keep your compendium, the same way I keep the Trickster’s.” Her Robin drew his bow as well. “Ready, Jose!”

Jose hopped onto the end of the car, throwing his arms in the air. “Time for fireworks!” he cheered, and a wave of stars launched directly at the wall. Both Robins loosed their arrows at the same time, and it all hit with a tremendous explosion. When the smoke cleared, there was a jagged hole in the wall, revealing a hidden hallway behind it.

“That explosion’s going to catch Maruki’s attention, if he’s back,” Goro said. “We need to get moving.”

They piled back into the car, and Jose hit the gas, sending them careening into the newly-revealed passage. It was one long hallway, with a room at the end of it, and in that room…

Jose slammed on the brakes. Akira was asleep, tucked into a bed with white sheets. The only color in the room other than the faint iridescence of the walls was the flowers scattered around his sleeping form. Goro recognized them as the same kind of flowers upstairs in the garden. But why put them here? Under ordinary circumstances, it would probably be beautiful. He could picture Yusuke gushing over the contrast of vibrant flowers and dark curls against the white linens. But Goro just found it… creepy. Like…

He shook his head to clear the thought. “We found him, Jose, now what?”

Jose shifted gears. “Now we go into the Den. Close your eyes. It can be disorienting if you’re not used to the shift without your nav.”

Being given an order by someone who looked like a toddler didn’t sit right with Goro, but he obeyed. For about five seconds, right before the car lurched forward in the direction of the bed. His eyes flew back open, legitimately afraid that Jose was about to hit Akira with the car. But instead of the white bedroom, all he saw was a vast void, stretching out in all directions. It was disorienting, nauseating. Thankfully, a glimmer of light came into view up ahead and gave him something to focus on, and quickly resolved itself into a jagged hole that looked like it had been boarded over from the other side. But Jose wasn’t slowing down, so Goro ducked lower, shielding his head behind his arm as they slammed through the flimsy barrier and came to a stop.

The first thing that he noticed about Akira’s Den was the colors. Colored platforms, colored stars, a shimmer of color in the night sky through the massive skylight. And statues. So many statues and models of things Akira had apparently found significant. Goro’s heart clenched as he saw Robin and Loki together on a platform, both sides of himself with a place in Akira’s mind.

He looked away, skimming his eyes over a game corner, a theater, a jukebox, a gallery of photos of what he assumed were important memories... And on one of the platforms, beside a replica of the giant slot machine from Sae’s Palace, Goro spotted Akira, speaking with a perfect duplicate of himself.

This idiot, this wonderful moron, locked away in a _space nightclub_ in his own head, and of course he’s still talking to a version of Goro when he’s found.

The kids trailed behind as Goro hurried across the maze of walkways to where Akira was waiting. Akira looked shocked to see him, but the duplicate of himself just rolled his eyes.

“Wh-Wha… Goro?” Akira stammered, looking back and forth between the black-masked version approaching him, and the one in street clothes he’d been talking to. “I don’t understand; what’s… What’s going on?”

“Finally,” Cognitive Goro huffed, ignoring Akira’s confusion. “I’ve been telling him that he needs to wake up, and he won’t. We just keep having this conversation. Maybe you’ll have better luck.”

“Thank you,” Goro said without really thinking about it. “I can take things from here.”

Akira, bewildered, looked between the Goros, Lavenza, and Jose. “What is _happening?_ ”

“It’s kind of impressive that I’m so close to the real thing,” Cognitive Goro commented as he turned and headed towards what looked like a replica of Crossroads. “He knows us so well…”

Goro watched him go, feeling vaguely off-kilter at having to see _another_ cognitive version of himself. But he shoved that emotion away. He had to focus on Akira. He turned back, grabbed Akira by the shoulders, and said, “You need to wake up, right now.”

Akira blinked his big grey eyes. But then his expression faltered, to something almost disappointed, or… annoyed?

“You really couldn’t give me just a _little_ time to think about this?” he huffed, looking away. “You had to drag Jose into things and literally break into my head?”

“A little time?” Goro laughed bitterly. “Akira, it’s _July_. You’ve been asleep for _six months_. You’ve had more than enough time to think, and we need to hurry up and get out of here before that asshole figures out how to follow us.”

“What are you talking about?” Akira demanded, but then he flinched, reaching up to press a hand to his forehead. “I… I’ve done something stupid…” he murmured, much quieter. “I didn’t want to choose…”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I was afraid!” Akira blurted. “I was afraid you were going to die again and it would be my fault! I didn’t want you to die! And I was so tired…”

Goro’s grip loosened, and he stroked down Akira’s arms, trying to be comforting. “I told you. You don’t have to be afraid.”

Akira sagged into the touch. “It’s been six months? Wh-What happened?”

“Maruki took over reality,” Goro said, ice creeping into his voice at the mention of the doctor. “Your friends fell back into their happy dreams. Lavenza and I have been working for months trying to figure out how to break his control enough to snap everyone out of it. And figure out how to wake you up.”

“Doctor Maruki wouldn’t have… To me, he wouldn’t have…” Akira began. 

But as he spoke, there was movement around the platform, and a massive tentacle with a clawed hand rose up, swaying a little before reaching for the group. Goro didn’t wait to see who it was going for; he shoved Akira behind him and pulled out his gun in one motion, sinking a bullet directly through the middle of the hand. It twitched and collapsed, dissolving into blue and black smoke, and Goro glanced over his shoulder. “ _That_ is what has been happening.”

“Mr. Joker,” Jose spoke up. “Those things shouldn’t be in your head. I think they were making you forget how long you’d been here.”

Akira looked like he was going to be sick. “Oh my god…”

Lavenza tugged at Goro’s cape. “Knight, we really should go. We don’t know what is happening in the Palace.”

“Right,” Goro said. He tugged at Akira’s arm. “Let’s go. Back to the real world.”

“...right,” Akira parroted, allowing himself to be led. It had been a lot to pile on him at once, but Goro knew Lavenza was right. They needed to go. They could sort this out later, once they were safe.

Together, the four of them walked towards the entrance. Akira cast a baleful look at the hole in the wall, which would need to be repaired again, but didn’t comment. And as they rounded the corner at the end of the hall, the world faded out to white.

When Goro could see again, it was still white, but the eerie, iridescent white of the Palace. He was on the floor in the bedroom beside Jose’s car. To one side, Lavenza was pushing herself to her feet, Jose was in the car, and Akira…

Akira was sitting up on the bed, rubbing his forehead and looking confused by the flowers surrounding him.

Goro crushed back a strong impulse to hug him that was probably coming from Robin, if the disappointed grumble he got was any indication. Instead, he got up, taking stock of the situation. Time ran differently in the metaverse, which meant that, considering the explosion, they probably only had a few minutes, if that. “Jose, are you ready to go?”

Jose nodded. “It’ll be faster going down the stairs than up.”

“Perfect.” Goro went to Akira, laying a hand on his back with a softness that surprised even himself. “I know you’re probably still confused, but we have to get out of here. I’ll explain everything then.”

Akira looked up at him, his eyes still a little hazy, and nodded. “Okay,” he whispered, his voice raspy from disuse. “Let’s go, Goro.”

Goro helped him onto the back of the car, leaving one arm around him to keep him stable and holding onto the bar with his free hand. Lavenza scrambled into the passenger seat after making sure Akira was safely on board, and as Jose revved the engine, a confused voice said, “Akechi-kun?”

Goro looked up. Maruki was standing in the doorway, looking more baffled than Goro had ever seen him. It was kind of satisfying.

“Akechi-kun, what… What is this?” Maruki asked. “Who are they?”

Well. An easy question, for once. Goro smiled. “My teammates.” 

He leaned forward. “Hey, Jose.”

Jose glanced back at him. “Is that the ‘fucker’ I’m supposed to run over, Mr. Crow?”

The scandalized expression on Maruki’s face was the funniest thing Goro had seen in months. At his side, Akira whispered, “You taught them to _swear,_ Goro?”

Lavenza’s golden eyes narrowed. “Some people are worth such language. This man is a presumptuous… bastard.”

“Akechi-kun, I think you should reconsider what you’re doing,” Maruki said.

Goro stared at him, still trying to keep up his reasonable facade even as Goro defied him at every turn. “You can’t stop us,” he said quietly.

Maruki’s gaze shifted to Akira. “Kurusu-kun, you—”

“Do _not_ speak to him.”

A touch of annoyance crossed Maruki’s face, and once again he changed targets. “You’re… Jose, right? I don’t know what Akechi-kun has told you, but I’m just trying to help.”

Jose took a deep breath. “You were keeping Mr. Joker prisoner. And you made Mr. Crow sad. And the flowers that bloomed because of you taste _awful_. I… I don’t like you.” And without further ado, he put the pedal to the floor.

The car shot forward, forcing Maruki to dive out of the way. Akira hung on for dear life, leaning into Goro, who desperately wished he had a hand free to flip off Maruki as they passed. But it was satisfying enough to speed down the stairs, making off with the treasure they’d come into the Palace for in the first place.

A few shadows tried to stop them, but Lavenza got most of them with her chainsaw. Goro let go of Akira long enough to take out a few with some well-placed gunshots as well. And when they finally sped up the exit ramp and Goro sent them back to the real world, everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Lavenza was out of the car in a matter of moments, running around the back to grab Akira in a hug. “I can’t hold my form for long out here, so please…!”

Akira smiled wanly, hugging her back. “If I’d known how long it had been, I definitely would have missed you.”

She squeezed him as hard as she could, then stepped back. “I’m glad you’re okay, Trickster.”

When she turned back into a butterfly, she fluttered up to perch in his hair, and Goro smiled. He turned to Jose, ducking his head. “Thank you. We couldn’t have done this without your help.”

“It’s no trouble,” Jose said. “You and Mr. Joker and everyone have done so much for me. Bringing me flowers and helping me learn about humans. So please tell me if there’s anything else I can do.” He smiled at Akira. “Feel better soon, Mr. Joker. Good job!”

And with that, he drove off, disappearing back into Mementos as he got close to the station. Goro glanced over at Akira as his stomach growled, and offered him a hand.

“We should be safe for now. Let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was stupidly fun to write. :)
> 
> I was listening to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34thwBLMe4g) for a lot of it.


	2. Bonus Scene

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just something extra. You miss some things when you're only doing one character's POV. ;)

He’d expected something like this, of course.

Akechi-kun discovering the willpower to summon his persona in reality was something Maruki had been hoping he wouldn’t manage. But the boy was frustratingly smart sometimes, and once he _had_ that power back, Maruki had known that his vandalism and mayhem would escalate.

The entire Scramble and most of Shibuya Station was really a bit much, though.

It took a while to revert things back to normal. Unlike spilling coffee or falling over because of a sudden flood of marbles, Akechi-kun’s power had a direct, significant effect on a person’s mental state. That meant that it was more difficult to correct it. And because the power affected each person a little differently, he had to fix them one at a time.

How tiresome.

But eventually, he returned to the Palace, and realized that there had been a very good reason for the vast amount of people that Akechi-kun had influenced. His head shadows were in the observation room, staring at the monitors and clearly agitated, and when Maruki walked over to see what was going on, he rubbed his eyes, not sure if the cameras were correct.

“What is that?” he asked.

“We’re sorry, my lord!” one of the shadows said. “We’ve been trying to stop the intruders, but they’re stronger than anticipated!”

Maruki stared at the screen, where a small car being driven by an even smaller child was racing down the halls. Akechi-kun and another child were riding on the back, weapons in hand, and the cameras were going out one at a time as they passed. Eventually Maruki realized why, catching a glimpse of Akechi-kun’s persona – Loki? – winding up for a swing with his sword and smashing the camera to black.

“My security staff can’t handle Akechi-kun and two… children?” Maruki asked, then, incredulous, “He brought _children_ into my Palace? Where did he even _get_ children?”

“We’ve tried to stop them, my lord! But…”

Onscreen, there was a blast of power, and they watched as the little girl blew away a shadow with a massive spell.

“...I see.” Maruki looked at the other shadows. “Who are they? Do they not have shadows in the metaverse?”

“They don’t appear to be human,” another shadow responded. “We can’t find anything on them at all!”

What was _happening?_ This was absurd on a level that he’d never expected from the calculating Black Mask. And what were those kids? If they weren't human, were they personas? Was Akechi-kun like Kurusu-kun? How was Akechi-kun managing to keep three personas summoned at once?

He could put a stop to this. He just had to go down there and talk to Akechi-kun.

But before he could, another shadow called, “There’s been extensive damage to the research wing!”

...unfortunately, that had to take priority. He didn’t want to compromise anyone finding their happiness just because Akechi-kun had thought a rampage was appropriate. He would fix that first, then go deal with the intruders. It wasn’t like they were going to find Kurusu-kun anyway. He had plenty of time.


End file.
